How to Read the Rider Waite Tarot Cards

The Rider Waite tarot cards were developed after the original playing cards, which had 52 in a deck, and these also have the 21 and 0 cards of the major arcana. Understand the process of reading the Rider Waite cards with helpful information from a professional psychic in this free video on paranormal states.

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Video Transcript

Like most cards the Rider Waite Deck came from the original playing cards which had 52. The Rider Waite has the 21 and 0 cards of the major arcana, that's what we call the major arcana. The rest are suits just like from King to Ace and so they have very visual images. The major arcana many metaphysical people believe start you on a path of enlightenment. The emperor card for instance you can see the airy symbology. He is wearing also his armor. He is kind of the guy in control of everything. Often times he represents government, authority that sort of thing. He is not a card that a lot of spiritual people are always comfortable with because that is the part of ourselves that we have to look at, often times the dual part of ourselves. He is the ultimate in masculinity. The symbols here under deep meditation show there is the orange which is the color of vitality. He is wearing the red and he is sitting on concrete so there is a concrete action to this card. The death card which is the card that everyone is often afraid of has the symbology of everyone falling before death. He also carries the flag that has fertility involved so from death we also have regeneration and just like the emperor card the death card has a little bit of a bad rap because it is about transformation. People are very afraid of transformation whether it be a physical death or a physical change. When this card comes out in the reading I can guarantee you there is going to be changes. O'kay the moon card another fascinating card. As you can see the creature below which is a crab symbolic of the moon and cancer is crawling up from the depths of the ocean through the enlightened path to the heights of the mountain. There is much Hebrew symbology in here these little diamonds coming out of the moon are really yodes which is Hebraic information as I said Arthur Edward Waite who designed these cards was a great metaphysician and was quite possibly trained for many many years in alchemy symbology so his colors are a light yellow, the pale yellow. He has all three phases of the moon. It is really a full moon, then there is the face of the moon and then there is the crescent of the moon. As you know it has a 28 day cycle and as we see the crab which represents feeling and intensity of cancer moves up the path to enlightenment only through feeling. You also have the wild wolf on one side and the domesticated dog on the other. This is the duality of man that we have to feel our way through to get to the highest aspiration. The empress sits probably fully pregnant in a very wonderful vegetative garden, abundant trees everywhere, the twelve stars in her crown represent the astrology. You can actually see the Venus symbol on her shield. Now if you put her and the emperor next together you see a very powerful duality, a masculine and feminine, she being fertile and he being structure and solidity and she being organic and in the garden. So there is a little bit of polarity there. When you lay out the cards in certain patterns you can also assimilate more information and the priestess card, she sits within the temples. The B and the J stand for Boaz and Jachem which are Hebrew words and that means the dark and the light. Behind her are the pomegranates and the palms which is fertility but there is also some other magical symbology in that. The crescent moon at her feet, her gown goes into the waters with the understanding she holds the Tora in her lap, rota wheel tora, when you bring the teel back to itself again so it is the wheel of life. She holds the secrets within her lap. There is so much symbology we could be here forever. I suggest to all of my students to spend at least one week with each of the major cards, to study it to meditate with it and then they bring that back to class and then we fine tweak what they have been getting in dreams. As I said before it is important to have teacher. On your own it is very difficult. I have seen people open up without a teacher and sometimes go a little bit off the deep end. It doesn't always have to happen. There are enlightened beings who from the moment they touch the cards they just know. This is the star card and it represents Aquarius. It is my very favorite card. It represents humanity androgyny. The large pool of water here are the resources that we can pull from, the five streams coming out here are the five senses so we always have a vast pool of knowledge to pull from. The stars and the sky represent the seven sisters surrounding the sun. The symbology of this card I believe is talking about the new age that we are moving into. The little red bird is in the background. She represents the enlightenment.